This thesis compliments my photographic investigation into an individual and
societal preoccupation with collecting and the narrative or symbolic power of objects. My
experiences as a child surrounded by my father’s mass collection of civil war artifacts
prompted my continued interest in the pursuit of collecting and also to question the nature
of hobby versus obsession. In this paper, I consider the personal and social conditions
present in Western society that inform an inherent need to possess, create order, gain
status, knowledge and to preserve. I discuss the creation of a persona through possession,
but also question to what extent one’s identity is interdependent on those possessions.
I began my thesis by placing advertisements online and in community centers in
which I invited people to pose with their collections in their homes. The domestic spaces
emphasized the intimate nature of the images and suggested a dialogue between owner
and possession. This relationship creates a portrait of psychological expression, but also
of the universal desire to derive meaning through possession.
The photographic medium supported these basic human desires to possess,
preserve and express, allowing us to begin to imagine realities based on what is
represented. The title of each image references my own interaction with each person and
perception of the experience. This thesis reflects my interest in the curiosities of human
condition, while the accompanying images become a photographic collection of
collecting itself.